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KNOWLEDGE BASE - TRADITIONAL QUILTING
TRADITIONAL QUILTING
Talent and individual expression are not qualities only possessed by professionals: you have it too! All of you have the
capacity for creativity in your quilting. Let your creativity shine and realize there are no boundaries to your unique expression.
Quilting is a hobby and a passion, something shared with people all over the world. We buy fabric, make quilts and keep
our loved ones warm for a lifetime. So in this month’s issue of All Access, we’ve decided to highlight some of our favorite
techniques and showcase some of Anita Goodesign’s collections that incorporate them. From Bargello to Trapunto, quilting
is a passion passed down from generation to generation so when life gives you scraps make a quilt!
DOUBLE WEDDING RING QUILT
What can be more romantic than a Double Wedding Ring
Quilt? Although this pattern is often thought of as a twentieth
century quilt, it evolved from a very old design. The motif of
two interlocking rings goes as far back as the fourth century
when it was used to decorate Roman cups.
Another early example of interlocking rings is found in Gimmal
Rings which were popular in Europe in the 15th and 16th
centuries. During engagement, one was worn by the man
and the other by the women. After marriage, the two rings
were fitted together to be worn by the wife. Actual Double
Wedding Ring patterns appear to have been rarely used until
the 1920s. Part of the difficulty in tracing the earlier use of
this pattern is the fact that over time it was made under 40+
different names. By the 1930’s and 40’s, the Double Wedding
Ring quilt had become quite common.
TRAPUNTO
Trapunto, from the Italian for “to quilt,” is a method of quilting
that is also called “stuffed technique.” A puffy, decorative
feature, trapunto utilizes at least two layers, the underside
of which is slit and padded, producing a raised surface on
the quilt.
One of the earliest surviving examples of trapunto quilting is
the Tristan Quilt in the Victoria and Albert Museum, a linen
quilt depicting scenes from the story of Tristan and Isolde
which was made in Sicily during the second half of the 13th
century.